The All Important Question
by Elsey Snape
Summary: They won't admit it for fear of losing what they have, but they have attached. As the relationship evolves, Vanessa has a question that's been bugging her. It isn't one Chuck would expect.


A/N: I didn't like the way the Chuck/Vanessa storyline ended. Yes, it's believeable, but it bums me out. They are too beautiful to not have more airtime even though I'm secretly jealous of Jessica Szor and her relationship with Ed Westwick. But they look happy, so I won't begrudge them... Sigh. So, Chuck and Vanessa grow attached to each other and V wants to ask C a question. It's a good one, so keep reading until the end :)

The All Important Question

They couldn't say that this had started innocently. It hadn't. They both knew what they were getting into when they started this, whatever this is. Chuck wanted Blair. Vanessa wanted Nate. Nate and Blair were getting back together. So, Chuck and Vanessa, acting as jilted lovers do, turned to each other, to try to win their loves back. Any way they could.

But it obviously hadn't worked because Vanessa ended up staying with Chuck that night after Jenny's birthday party had broken up. And Nate made sure Blair got home safely.

When Vanessa woke up the next morning, she realized what she had done and tried to leave before Chuck woke. That didn't happen and she even as she tried to talk her way out of the bedroom, out of his grasp, she knew that she wanted to do this. Get lost in whatever this was, not have any emotions tied to the physical pleasures. Chuck made her feel beautiful as he held her and kissed her. And even though she knew he was directly related to Satan, she didn't care. She didn't care because it didn't matter. They didn't talk about their feelings, their goals, what happened to them during their days.

They continued their relationship, if you could even call it that, for weeks after Jenny's party. Vanessa showing up at Chuck's suite at the Palace, Chuck slumming in Brooklyn when her sister was out of town. They would fuck, make love, whatever you want to call it. Vanessa was a stand-in for Blair and Chuck was a stand-in for Nate. But neither cared because in those moments they were together, nothing else mattered. They were the only two people in the world who mattered.

After the first few weeks, Chuck started to call more often. Usually every few days when at first it had been once or twice a week. Now it was almost every other day. The phone calls and texts were always brief, they very nearly had their own code. They would meet and have sex and then they would let each other be. Occasionally Chuck would stay the night with her in Brooklyn but he usually left before Vanessa even woke up. If Vanessa came up to the Palace, they would have room service then leave. They rarely spoke except to share some criticism about the food.

But as Chuck began to call more the calls became longer than the short one minute conversations about meeting up. He would tell her where he was coming from, what he was doing, ask her if she wanted to grab dinner before they went to his place. Little things that wouldn't mean anything to any other couple except they weren't a couple. There wasn't a Chuck and Vanessa. There was Chuck. There was Vanessa. But not a Chuck and Vanessa. So, it did mean something when he started talking more but Vanessa wouldn't let it get to her because she didn't want to define what they were doing because then she might have to admit that this guy was growing on her. That she waited impatiently for six o'clock to roll around to see if he would call and that she was disappointed if he didn't or over the moon happy when he did.

Chuck didn't even realize what he was doing, and if he did, he didn't let on. Vanessa didn't comment when he asked her to stay with him at the Palace. She happily made him breakfast on the mornings after he stayed the night at her apartment. They still rarely talked but when he did, she simply listened. She was afraid to engage him in conversation on the rare occasions he actually talked about something other than sex or money. She was afraid that he might clam up again, afraid that he would stop talking, stop calling. She didn't want to lose him because, as much as she tried to deny it, she was falling for him.

The only times she speaks to him of her feelings are as he sleeps. He seems so at peace as he sleeps and Vanessa wants to tell the boy lying beside her that everything will be okay. That one day, he will find his way. His way to the woman he was meant to be with. She wants to tell him that she wants to be that girl but she is only just beginning to admit that to herself and she isn't sure he would take it well.

She knows that Chuck will eventually tire of her. That he will find a way to win Blair back. He will choose her over Vanessa every time. He never tells her this, he never gives anything away, he even stopped talking about her, but Vanessa knows that she will never be good enough for Chuck.

VCVCVCVC

Chuck wasn't sure why he did some of the things he did. He didn't know why he continued on with Vanessa of all people. Chuck Bass is a seventeen year old billionaire with tremendous stamina but there was something about Vanessa. He could have the company of any woman he wanted, all he had to do was say his name, maybe flash a couple of hundreds and it was done.

Vanessa was different. She wasn't fazed by the money or the glamour of his fast lifestyle. When she came to his suite at the Palace, she always seemed at ease. He could tell when people were using him. That was one of the few useful things that his father had taught him. But he knew Vanessa didn't want anything from him.

Maybe that's why he felt comfortable enough to speak to her even though they had agreed to no emotional involvement. He rarely told her things that were secrets that no one else knew. But he did tell her things that he didn't know she knew, like about his mother. He didn't even remember why he started to talk about her, probably because of Mother's Day coming up soon and he became emotional around Mother's Day.

He had started with inconsequential details of his life. On their short phone calls, he let slip where he was or what he was doing. He almost didn't realize he was doing it. Vanessa never mentioned it, and she never complained.

That was something else he appreciated. On the rare occasions that he talked, she didn't try to cheer him up or give him false sympathy, she didn't give him encouraging smiles. She would sit there in the bed or on the couch and simply look at him. He didn't know what she was thinking but it didn't bother him that he didn't know.

What bothered him was that he was becoming attached to the girl whom he had once sworn to hate. Now he has to remind himself that he called her the previous night and that he had started his day in Brooklyn beside her in her bed that very morning. He has to remind himself that there wasn't supposed to be emotional involvement in their relationship. It was purely physical.

But he was comforted every morning that he woke up and saw her sleeping next to him. He had taken to asking her to stay with him at the Palace or staying with her through the night in Brooklyn. She never complained, she never asked why there was a sudden change. He wondered if he should worry about that but he was too afraid to lose her if he spoke the unspeakable.

He knew that if he mentioned the evolution of their relationship then that would be the end. She would leave, she would never talk to him again. Honestly, he didn't know if he could stay with her if she mentioned anything about it either. He wanted to stay.

Even if Blair Waldorf threw herself at him, he didn't know if he would have the strength to walk away from Vanessa for good because Vanessa was good to him and good for him. Blair would never make him breakfast in the morning after a night of passion. Blair would never make breakfast period.

If something happened and Chuck, God forbid, lost all his money, Blair would never stay with him. He knew that Blair wasn't the girl for him. He didn't know if Vanessa was the girl for him, but he was willing to see if she was willing.

VCVCVCVC

Chuck looked up from the book he was reading as he heard footsteps coming toward his bedroom. Since he had moved back into the Bass penthouse with his stepmother and her children, he had had few guests to find their way over without being paid. He knew he was the only person home that night, so he assumed that whoever the person was, they had come to see him.

His bedroom door opened and he was surprised when Vanessa spoke to him. "Are you busy?"

Chuck turned from the window to look at her. He shook his head, the book was for school and completely boring anyway. "What did you have in mind?" He hadn't expected to see her, but he wasn't about to turn her away.

She watched him nervously, unsure of what to do, because she honestly hadn't thought this far ahead. "Well, I'm bored. Have you had dinner? I'm not all that hungry but we could go for dessert or something?"

He watched her fidget under the weight of his gaze. "I'll get my coat." She nodded and once he had his jacket, she followed him to the elevator and they rode in silence to the main floor. "I thought we didn't do this?" He asked as they stepped out into the cool spring evening.

Vanessa looked at him, still nervous and feeling his constant gaze on her. She knew him well enough to know he wasn't mad or even annoyed. Amused, definitely, like it was all a game to him. "I told you I'm bored. You probably know that Jenny and Dan are with Rufus and Lily and Serena and Erik. Not to mention my sister is out of town. I've watched _American Idol _by myself for the last week, by the way, not very fun to watch it alone." Chuck laughed at this, she had told him before and made him watch it with her.

"Fair enough. That book was boring anyway. Where are we going?" She smiled knowingly as she pulled him down the street.

"I know a place. Go with it. When have I ever steered you wrong?" She was right as much as he would never admit it. He would never admit that she had good taste in the many of the things he enjoyed. Food, alcohol, fashion, movies, music. He wouln't have thought he would have so much in common with her but he enjoyed spending time with her and going places that Chuck Bass would never go, but with her, he wasn't Chuck Bass. She had renamed him and he found that he didn't mind.

"Okay, oh wise one, lead on. But apparently I have a curfew so I have to be home by eleven." Vanessa looked at him dubiously.

"Since when? Chuck Bass doesn't live by anyone's rules."

"My stepmother thinks that all of her children need to be at home on school nights by eleven. And apparently I fall under that umbrella."

"Are you actually going to be home by eleven?"

Chuck looked at her, somehow their hands had become entwined. "I don't know. We'll see how the night goes." Vanessa smiled shyly. She didn't know what was going on but she liked it. And she could tell that Chuck liked it too.

Vanessa bit her lip and gathered up the courage to ask Chuck the all important question that had been nagging her all week. "Can I ask you something? Don't hate me."

"I could never hate you. Anymore..." Vanessa smiled at that.

"Am I the only one to notice how much weight Lily's gained?"

CVCVCV

A/N: please review!! I'm not really a VUCK fan but like I said they are just too beautiful :)


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